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Flyers Gameday: 12/2/17 vs. BOS |
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GAME 26 PREVIEW: FLYERS VS BRUINS
Dave Hakstol's Philadelphia Flyers (8-10-7) host Bruce Cassidy's Boston Bruins (11-8-4) at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday afternoon. Game time is 1 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on NBCSP.
This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season, and the first of two in Philadelphia. The teams will rematch in Boston on March 8 before the season series concludes back in Philadelphia on April 1.
Last season, the Flyers went 1-2-0 against the Bruins. A blown 2-0 lead in the third period on Nov. 29, 2016 was rescued by a 45-save performance (Philly was outshot 47-21) by Steve Mason and then 8 more saves in a nine-round shootout finally won by Shayne Gostibehere.
The next time the teams met, an afternoon tilt in Boston on Jan. 14, 2017 on the same day as the 50th Anniversary Alumni Game at the Wells Fargo Center, saw the Bruins blow out the Flyers by a 6-3 count as Brad Marchand racked up shorthanded and even strength goals as well as two assists.
In the final game, played on March 11 at TD Garden, the Flyers needed a win to stay mathematically alive in the playoff chase. The game was tied 1-1 in the waning seconds before Brandon Manning accidentally deflected a puck into his own net on a goal credited to Drew Stafford at 19:54 of the third period.
FLYERS OUTLOOK
Dragging a nine-game winless streak (0-5-4) into Saturday's tilt, the Flyers are glad that a 2-5-6 month of November is done and the club has has three idle nights and two practices to try to regroup
The Flyers enter this game coming off an ugly 3-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday that saw Claude Giroux score in the opening minute of the game before a couple of iffy goals allowed by starter Michal Neuvirth and a two-goal deficit heading into the third period gave way to a desultory final stanza.
Jordan Weal, a healthy scratch the last two games, will return to the Flyers' lineup on Saturday. Veteran defenseman Radko Gudas will serve the seventh game of his 10-game NHL suspension for a slashing incident against Winnipeg Jets' forward Mathieu Perrault on Nov. 16.
Brian Elliott is the likely starter in goal for the Flyers.
BRUINS OUTLOOK
The Bruins have played good hockey of late, winning five of their last six games after going 2-3-1 to start the month of November: 7-4-1 overall. The club has entered a relatively light portion of their season schedule with just four games -- two on the road followed by two at home -- over the first 12 days.
Boston enters this game coming off a 3-2 home win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday. Charlie McAvoy (3rd goal, 10th assist), Riley Nash (2nd) and Torey Krug (4th) scored as the Bruins built a 3-0 lead and then went on to win by one goal. Impressively, the Bruins outshot the high-powered Bolts by a 36-21 margin. Tuukka Rask earned the win with 19 saves.
Frequent Flyer-killer David Krejci is day-to-day with an upper-body injury said to be a back issue. Rookie forward Jake DeBrusk is also day-to-day.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
Flyers
28 Claude Giroux - 14 Sean Couturier - 93 Jakub Voracek
40 Jordan Weal - 19 Nolan Patrick - 17 Wayne Simmonds
12 Michael Raffl - 51 Valtteri Filppula - 11 Travis Konecny
15 Jori Lehterä - 21 Scott Laughton - 22 Dale Weise
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Andrew MacDonald
53 Shayne Gostisbehere - 8 Robert Hägg
6 Travis Sanheim - 23 Brandon Manning
37 Brian Elliott
[30 Michal Neuvirth]
Scratches: Taylor Leier (healthy), Radko Gudas (NHL suspension, game 7 of 10), Mark Alt (recalled on Sat. morning, healthy).
BRUINS
63 Brad Marchand - 37 Patrice Bergeron - 88 David Pastrnak
43 Danton Heinen - 42 David Backes - 20 Riley Nash
72 Frank Vatrano - 51 Ryan Spooner - 55 Noel Acciari
39 Matt Beleskey - 52 Sean Kuraly - 59 Tim Schaller
33 Zdeno Chara - 73 Charlie McAvoy
47 Torey Krug - 25 Brandon Carlo
48 Matt Grzelcyk - 86 Kevan Miller
40 Tuukka Rask
[35 Anton Khudobin]
Scratches: Paul Postma (healthy), David Krejci (day-to-day, upper body), Jake DeBrusk (day-to-day, upper body), Adam McQuaid (IR, broken fibula), Peter Cehlarik (IR, left leg), Anders Björk (IR).
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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